Israel

Political framework for scientific and technological cooperation

The pillars of Germany and Israel's cooperation are the Minerva Foundation, the interministerial research partnership between the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Israeli Ministries of Science, Culture and Sports (MOST) and of Industry, Trade and Labor (MOITAL), the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), and the German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP).
 
The Minerva Foundation (Minerva-Stiftung Gesellschaft für die Forschung mbH) has been in existence for more than 40 years. Its establishment marked the beginning of scientific cooperation between Germany and Israel. Since 1973, the interministerial partnership with MOST has been supporting research institutions from both countries through the specialist programmes of the BMBF. In addition, the BMBF and MOITAL have been working together since 2002 to support application-oriented collaborative projects between companies and research institutions in both countries. A further key element of cooperation is the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), which was established in 1986. Since 1997, the BMBF has been supporting larger interdisciplinary German-Israeli projects in forward-looking areas of research through the German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP).

The BMBF is also involved in multilateral collaborative projects with Israel and its Arab neighbours, mainly in the fields of marine research, environmental technologies and water technologies. One of the aims of these efforts is to support the peace process in the Middle East.

Current priorities of cooperation

Through the Minerva Research Centres at Israeli universities and research institutions, the three programmes of the Minerva Foundation support cooperation with Germany by offering scholarships for young researchers and by funding projects at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

The priorities of the interministerial partnership are the natural sciences and technology, including the areas of marine sciences, geosciences, biotechnology, environmental research, optical technologies, neurosciences, cancer research, energy research (BMU-MOST) and water technologies. In 2006, the range of areas in which Germany and Israel cooperate was extended to include the social sciences, with a first project on the subject of migration. For several years now, the funding of German-Israeli collaborative projects between science and industry has been focusing on application-oriented, industry-relevant research.

The GIF supports top-class research in practically all scientific fields, although the thematic priorities change on an annual basis. In addition, the foundation set up a special Young Scientists' Programme in 2000. In 2005, the BMBF and MOST agreed to increase the GIF's endowment by €50 million to a total of €211 million by 2007.

The DIP is mainly aimed at teams of researchers who work together in innovative areas. It is not limited to specific fields of science; collaborative projects in the humanities and social sciences are eligible for funding as well. However, the priority areas are physics, life sciences, and chemistry.

The German-Israeli Cooperation Programme in Vocational Education and Training has the aim of developing vocational training in both countries. For almost 40 years now, this programme has been giving vocational training experts from both countries the opportunity to exchange experiences, develop innovative approaches, and test them in their practical work. Jointly developed teaching materials for training in the automotive and IT sectors as well as in microsystems technology are used in both countries. This work makes it possible to respond to new technological, economic and demographic challenges in the area of vocational training. The products of the collaboration are available on the programme's results platform (www.inwent.org/israel).

Funding for collaborations

In addition to the BMBF's cooperation programmes, cooperation between the two countries is also supported by various organizations that receive their funding from the BMBF or other public authorities, such as the German Research Association (DFG), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), but also some private foundations, particularly the Volkswagen Foundation, the Thyssen Foundation and the Krupp Foundation.

Cooperation highlights

2008
The first German-Israeli Intergovernmental Consultations, headed by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, took place in Jerusalem on 16 and 17 March 2008, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of the state of Israel. Both sides reiterated their commitment to supporting bilateral cooperation in a sustainable way, particularly in the areas of industry, science and innovation. During the bilateral consultations, Dr Annette Schavan, the German Federal Minister of Education and Research, and her counterpart Galeb Majadle, the Israeli Minister of Science, Culture and Sport, opened a science forum entitled "From the Laboratory Bench to the Market. Contribution of academic basic research to industrial development in Israel and Germany." On 18 March 2008, Federal Minister Dr Schavan opened the Center for German Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which was planned and financed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Federal Minister Annette Schavan and her Israeli counterpart Galeb Majadle have declared 2008 the "German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology" and officially opened it in Berlin on 8 April. The aim of this Year is to draw attention to the diversity and excellence of Germany and Israel's bilateral science cooperation and to raise awareness among Israelis of Germany's attractiveness as a research location. Cooperation between young scientists from both countries is being given special emphasis. The Year of Science is expected to trigger new developments, for example by putting a special focus on application-oriented research and development collaborations and strengthening the humanities and social sciences. The establishment of a Minerva Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences will be a milestone in this process. Further key areas of the Year of Science and Technology are the medical sciences, security research and environmental research. In order to improve the prospects of young scientists and give them special support in the context of the German-Israeli partnership, a Young Scientists' Award will be introduced in 2008 and will be conferred on an annual basis.

2007
The increase of the GIF's endowment by €50 million to a total of €211 million was completed in 2007. The BMBF and MOST each provided an equal share of these funds. The fact that this was achieved despite the extremely difficult budgetary situation in Israel is a further reflection of the importance of the German-Israeli research partnership. With the help of these funds, the GIF will be able to trigger new and important developments in the cooperation support of both countries. In October, the German Research Association (DFG) and the BMBF jointly celebrated the 10th anniversary of the German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP) by organizing an anniversary symposium in Jerusalem.

2006
Federal Minister Dr Annette Schavan paid a visit to Israel in June 2006. During this trip, she met with the Israeli Minister of Science and Research and the Minister of Industry and also visited some of the most important Israeli universities and the Weizmann Institute. On the occasion of this trip, a call for proposals for the third phase of the successful industrial R&D collaboration in the field of biotechnology was issued. A new collaboration on the subject of "Migration and Social Integration" was launched. In addition, the Minister gave a special German award to three winners of the Israeli "Young Scientists" competition, which is similar to the "Jugend forscht" ("Young Researchers") competition in Germany. This special award included a three-week invitation to Germany. The three young prize winners were hosted by the University of Göttingen. Last but not least, cooperation in the field of water technology was intensified considerably. As a result of the large scientific conference "Water is Life" (see below), which marked the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, the number of applications for young scientists' scholarships increased threefold, which is a very positive development. For this reason, the Minister's visit was used as an occasion to increase the budget of the exchange programme for young scientists in the field of water technology.

The Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg commemorated the 30th anniversary of the cooperation programme in the field of cancer research by organizing a German-Israeli Symposium on Cancer Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and at Tel Aviv University on 19 and 20 March 2006.

2005
To mark the 40th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, the International Bureau of the BMBF (IB) and MOST organized a scientific symposium on the subject of "Water is Life", which took place in Jerusalem on 7 and 8 December 2005. BMBF state secretary Prof. Frieder Meyer-Krahmer and MOST Director General David Leffler welcomed almost 100 German and 200 Israeli scientists and representatives of different funding organizations at this event. During the two-day symposium, the participants not only discussed the history and accomplishments of Germany and Israel's research partnership as exemplified by the field of water research, but also talked about current priorities and perspectives. A poster exhibition accompanied the event, providing a cross-section of the results of the numerous other areas of cooperation and of participating research organizations. It rounded out the picture of the long-standing science cooperation between Germany and Israel.

Some ideas that had been put forward at this conference encouraged the BMBF to begin the new transboundary project "Integrated Water Resources Management - SMART" together with partners in Israel, Palestine and Jordan, for which research funding of almost €10 million are being provided.

On the occasion of the anniversary, the brochure on Israel was updated and was presented to the public at the symposium in Jerusalem in December 2005 by State Secretary Frieder Meyer-Krahmer.

2004
Aaron Ciechanover, of the medical faculty of the Technion in Haifa, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004, for a research subject that had been partly financed by the DIP between 1999 and 2003. Together with Avraham Hershko, his Israeli doctoral thesis supervisor, and the American scientist Irvin Rose, Ciechanover discovered the role of ubiquitin in cellular protein degradation, a process which is of considerable importance in cancer research, particularly in protecting against tumours. It was the first time that Israeli researchers had received a Nobel Prize in the sciences.

The path for this research had been paved in several German-Israeli cooperation projects. For example, the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF), the Volkswagen Foundation and the inter-ministry collaboration between the BMBF and MOST provided funding for a total of four projects.